


Shattered

by Lannakitty



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Angst, F/M, SHADOWLANDS SPOILERS, Shadowlands Speculation, Tessduin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:48:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24942577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lannakitty/pseuds/Lannakitty
Summary: The sky is shattered.
Relationships: Tess Greymane/Anduin Wrynn
Comments: 20
Kudos: 28





	Shattered

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers. Inspired by the alpha Shadowlands intro experience. Alluding to things we don't fully know yet and therefore not going into them in detail. Doing a shippy missing scene. The end fought me.

Tess stalked into the room she'd claimed. The sound of the door slamming closed brought brief, hollow satisfaction. She crossed to the chest which contained her gear and opened it.

"Tess?"

She ignored her father's soft knock and concerned voice, instead stripping out of the long grey dress she'd been wearing. She didn't have time for him.

"Tess, I know you're in there. I-" His voice was cut off by her mother speaking quietly on the other side of the door. She ignored them both and continued to pull out her armor. The dress was lovely but it was the mask she wore when she needed to be in polite society. Tess was feeling anything but polite at the moment. The motions which had once been so foreign were second nature now. For Tess, the dress had become a mask, and the leather and knives her true self.

"Tess?" her mother called out. "Tess, I'd like to come in." 

Her hands never stopped, never wavered in their single minded mission. The armor on, she began to outfit herself with her weapons. Blades for throwing, daggers of different sizes and knives each had their place. She checked each one before slipping them into the sheathes or hidden pockets. She even took the thin, needle-like blades Taoshi had gifted to her after the Legion's fall. Tess pulled her hair into a tail as the door opened. Her mother entered alone, closing the door behind her. Tess shoved several of these last blades into her hair. 

She looked over her shoulder briefly. Her mother looked... old and worn. Tired. It was shocking. Tess turned away from the uncomfortable image, shoving her feelings to the side, and focused on her trunk. Icecrown was cold, but who knew what lay beyond...

"Tess," her mother stepped closer. The hand on her arm stopped Tess's digging but only for a moment. "Tess, please-"

"Leave me alone," Tess said, shoving her mother's hand away. She resumed her digging. Time had already been wasted and she did not intend to waste more. "Whatever you have to say, say it then get out of my way."

Mia put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You cannot go-"

"The hell I can't!" Tess snapped, jerking away. She didn't have time for this!

"Oh, Tess." The depth of sympathy in her mother's voice was startling, enough her mother was able to pull her into an embrace.

"Let go," Tess growled, but the burning in her eyes had caught up with her, the pain in her chest and throat rising as she fought her own emotions. She didn't have any more time for weeping like a weak little girl. Not when _she_ was still out there. Not when there was a plan to find _him_.

"Even your father isn't actually going-"

"Coward," Tess snapped, finally pushing free of her mother. The burning in her eyes escaped down her cheeks, leaving hot wet tracks.

"You don't mean that," her mother said.

"Don't tell me what I mean!" Tess snapped back. She wiped her eyes with the heel of one hand. "I am going. I will get our allies back. If father is too much of a coward to go, then he is welcome to keep the thrones of the Alliance warm."

Her mother sighed, exhausted from more than lack of rest. "You know you don't mean that."

" _She_ did this. He's been obsessed with ending her for years and _now_ he won't act? She's taken his son-"

"Tess."

" _And now she's taken Liam's replacement,_ " Tess snapped, letting the venom escape.

" _Tess_!"

"And he couldn't stop either from happening!"

"Tess, you. Will. _Stop_." Her mother's tone snapped with command, eyes blazing. Tess fell into a sullen silence. Her mother had drawn herself tall, shoulders square, and Tess knew she was no longer speaking with Mia her mother, but Mia her queen. "Stop before you say something you will regret."

Setting her jaw, Tess glared through the burning tears in her eyes still unshed. The ache in her heart grew, fueled by impotent rage. She had learned the deadly arts so she would never be helpless again! How dare her mother stop her now when she had fought the _Legion_ and won. "I have every reason to go and you know I am capable of handling myself," Tess ground out, jaw set. She would walk through the veil and damn anyone who got in her way.

The bearing of command faded from Mia's posture. One hand went to Tess's shoulder. The other to gently touch her cheek. "I know," she said far too gently for Tess's furious state of mind. "I know you are incredible and very skilled. I know you want to see justice." She smiled, sadly. "I know who you want to save. I know you love him."

Tess shut her eyes against the hot tears but they came anyway. They had never discussed what her heart wanted. Mia had let her have some small privacy and find her own way. Some words to her father had convinced him not to suggest an arrangement with Anduin, or anyone else, ever again. 

Despite herself, friendship with Anduin had grown into something more in her heart. Her feelings had quietly been reciprocated. His light had found her dark and together there had been some balance. Comfort. _Understanding_ . She had found love. Another war had come upon them providing danger and distraction, leaving them with stolen moments of intimacy. The war had _ended_ . They were _supposed_ to have time now. Whispered promises had been made between laughter and firelight, but he had been taken beyond the shattered sky.

"Then you know why I have to go," she said, trying to keep her voice even. She met her mother's gaze. "How can I just stay here when I know where he's been taken? _Who_ has him."

Mia rested her forehead against her daughter's. "Because you are needed here. Because sending anyone after those taken could very well be playing into _her_ hands." 

Tess only had wordless, frustrated rage.

Her mother had more to say, though. "If there is to still be an Alliance when we get everyone back, some of us need to stay here."

Gritting her teeth against the pain of logic, Tess shook her head. She stepped back. "I have to do something." 

"Then make sure he has a kingdom to return to," Mia said, reaching out again. "His people will need reassurance. Comfort. Stability. If instability erupts in Stormwind, it is the most vulnerable who will be hurt the worst."

Tess closed her eyes, teeth gritted. She could see the fires of a riot. Envision what Stormwind would look like if the noble houses decided to war with one another for the empty throne. The violence wouldn't hurt them. Her mother was right. She hated it, but she was right.

"But what does that have to do with me being here?" Tess asked. Stormwind was not hers. She was not theirs... Though, in the long dark, without his comforting light, she'd had to confront how much she was already his.

"Anduin's people aren't the only ones who will be looking to their leaders to guide them," Mia said, tucking an errant lock of hair behind Tess's ear. "Many of us have lost a home for a second time and are just now getting their feet under them." 

Tess winced. So many friends she'd made in Darnassus had been left homeless... or dead. Her stomach twisted. "All the more reason we should hunt down Sylvanas," she said, envisioning her blades carving through the Banshee's neck.

"All the more reason you should remain here while our champions do just that," Mia countered, gently. "Our people need to see you and your father are here. Safe from the Banshee," she said. "To lose you to her too... It would destroy them."

Tess looked up. The Forsaken had swarmed their defenses, the worgen curse had run rampant, the world had shattered, the tree had burned around her. Her mother had always been the embodiment of strength. Her mother never showed fear. Ever.

Which is why seeing it in her eyes, and hearing it in her voice, shook Tess to her core. Her mother was not talking only about their people.

"And," Mia continued, "as the people of Stormwind have given us support, we need to treat them in kind."

Tess's shoulders dropped, weighted by despair, yet rage burned in her heart... Comixed with a strange guilt. She wanted to run, to hunt down the undead bitch who had taken so much from her, personally. Her fingers traced the hilts of the blades strapped to her legs. But how could she do that to her mother? Her father had nearly been killed by one such trap.

Her brother had been.

Mia touched her wrist, drawing her fingers away from the weapons. Tess let her. "Help me care for Anduin's people, Tess. Help me protect them. It will be one less thing for him to worry about when we get him back."

Tess's resolve cracked against the gentle request. She wanted to go. She would be able to help there in whatever lay beyond the veil and find the one she loved.... Probably.

But who would remain to care for the people he loved? And how could she leave when she'd seen the fear in her mother's eyes? 

Part of her screamed in fury to be unleashed, to race after those going to Icecrown, to vault into the shattered sky and tear death apart. But the greater part of her knew she had to remain this time. As the resignation began to settle in, she hated it. "It feels like so little to sit here and do nothing," Tess said.

"Caring for a kingdom is hardly nothing," her mother told her. She drew out a handkerchief, tilted Tess's chin up, and began to clear away the dark tracks of makeup from her cheeks. "And I doubt we will be sitting on our hands."

Tess withstood the mothering in silence. Mia spoke of the many tasks ahead of them while everyone waited for word from Icecrown. Tess listened with half an ear and only sniffed once, holding back further tears, putting on a brave face. Her mother's litany of tasks trailed off.

"Oh, my girl. We'll make it through this."

"It isn't us I'm concerned about."

Mia held her tight. "Anduin is resilient." She did not offer false hope and Tess loved her, yet despaired because of it. He was resilient but he was also a kind soul. The Banshee had a way of twisting what was good and who knew what lay beyond the veil. No doubt there were places of rest, but Sylvanas would never take her captives there. Between them, Tess was the fighter. The warrior. The killer. He'd been solace. A reminder not to lose herself among the Shadows and blades. What would happen to her gentle beloved after captivity by such a monster in the realm of the dead? What would happen to her?

"For a moment, I was happy." She hadn't intended to speak but the words escaped.

"You will be again," her mother said, her tone firm.

Tess was not certain she believed her. The brave mask melted. She would reapply it later and endure. It was what one did. For now, she cried while her mother held her, and prayed to the Light it would save a favored son.


End file.
